Councilman's 'corrupt officers' comment draws criticism

This week of bloodshed in Baltimore has caught the attention of the public, city leaders and top brass at the police department, and one City Council member's opinion on what he believes is a big problem -- corrupt officers – has drawn a firestorm of criticism.

"When we take the hit at people and say they're not telling police what's happening, that's absolutely false," Stokes said during the interview. "People tell the police, and then we have too many corrupt police officers who are running drugs with the drug runners, who are protecting the drug dealers, who are telling the drug dealers that Mrs. Jones just told on him. So, our people are afraid because the police 1) aren't doing their jobs, and 2) they're not going into the neighborhoods and figuring out who is doing what, when and how."

Stokes has since issued a clarification and apology and said the overall goal should be to work together to fix the city violence.

"Maybe I could have parsed my words better, because I never said that most of our officers are in anyway doing anything wrong," Stokes told 11 News reporter Kai Reed on Thursday evening. "I said too many officers. I should maybe not have said too many. I didn't say most, I didn't say the majority, I didn't say all. It's a few -- a very few. … I get that. I apologize profusely to the men and women in blue."

The reactions to the councilman's comments were swift. The mayor' office issued a statement calling his words "unfortunate, inaccurate, and inappropriate," and Fraternal Order of Police President Bob Cherry said he was shocked.

"For him to insinuate or suggest that our police officers are out there tipping off drug dealers on who's calling 911 on them, and for dragging a broad paint brush across every member of the police department as being corrupt is not only outrageous and inflammatory, it's just outright untrue," Cherry said on WBAL-AM.

More than 35 people have been shot in Baltimore City since Friday. Ten have been killed.

Cherry acknowledged what Stokes said -- that he meant to emphasize that some officers shouldn't be on the force. Both said that pointing fingers is not the answer.

"We don't go around saying it's the police's fault or the citizens' fault. I don't want to hear that. I want us to work together. I want us all to realize we have some thugs where we shouldn't have thugs," Stokes said.

Police Commissioner Anthony Batts issued an internal message to his officers Thursday about the councilman's statements. In part, he said the comments were offensive and that the department can't be distracted from its mission.

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